The morning birds chirped as the group awoke. The sun seemed to rise slowly that day. Maybe it knew that someone was about to break some nerve racking news. Maybe it just wanted to delay that person for as long as possible. For all any of us knew, it was going to be a long day.

Daryl was awake before I was. When my eyes opened, his side of our makeshift bed was empty. I hadn't felt him get out of bed or hear him moan from his pain. It must not have hurt as much as before. Or he tried his hardest to stay as quiet as possible.

I emerged from the tent to find most of the camp members already up and moving. They were all gathered around a fire that was large enough to cook a bit of breakfast for everyone. Carol cooked the breakfasts mostly. It was eggs today, again. She passed them around and everyone took some without any words.

I sat in a chair next to Daryl. I smiled and whispered a "good morning" as he handed me a plate that was already full of food. I stabbed the food with a fork and chewed as fast as I could. I was never a fan of eggs, but I made due with what we had.

Glenn was sitting by a tree alone. He stood up and walked over to the circle with his hands in his pockets. He placed himself between Rick and Andrea. "Um, guys." He stopped speaking to make sure we were all listening. He had something very important to say and wasn't sure how to say it. He just spat it out. "So..." his voice cracked, "the barn is full of walkers."

Several forks dropped in surprise. Everyone seemed to stop everything to look at the young man. Even I placed my fork on my plate and slid my hand to Daryl. This was something no one expected.

Not one voice was heard, but we all needed to see. Shane was the first of us to march over and see with his own eyes. The rest followed the man, knowing that only devastation was going to come from this.

He peeked inside as the moans of the walkers bled through the rotting wood. None of us have been this way before, but if we had we would have smelt it. There had to be a good amount of them if we could smell them out here.

Shane shook his head and stomped back to Rick and the rest of the group. "You cannot tell me you're alright with this."

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This is not out land." These are words that Rick has been using a lot lately. He may have been right, but this was not something that can be overlooked.

Shane was sick of hearing these words coming out of Rick's mouth. "God, this is our lives!"

"Lower your voice," Glenn demanded. He didn't want Hershel and his people to hear the commotion and I could see why. Hershel would have us gone without looking back.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea was looking at the situation through Shane's eyes. She would side with him not matter what his opinions were.

Even T-Dog voiced his thoughts. "It ain't right. Not remotely."

I hid behind Daryl as I watched the barn. Through the cracks I could see them moving around. They could smell us. They wanted our flesh. To them, we would be easy targets.

Shane was pacing around Rick. "We've either got to go in there, we've got to make this right, or we've just got to go." He flipped his police hat on his head. "Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go," Rick snapped.

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol swayed as her mouth moved. She had a feeling we weren't going to find her, but she was keeping her hope alive.

"Okay." Shane laughed with no humor. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

Rick took a step or two in front of Carol. "Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind."

Daryl wasn't happy with what Shane was saying. He walked away from me and towards the fuming man. "I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago."

Shane laughed again at Daryl's expense. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll."

"He risked his life to bring that back, Shane. That's good evidence." I crossed my arms and stared menacingly in his direction.

"That doll tells us nothing, Rosalyn. For all we know, she lost it days ago and it flowed down that stream."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl threw his arm out in frustration.

"I'm just saying what needs to said. You get a good lead, it's in the first forty-eight hours." Shane's voice was nearly screaming, not liking the way that Daryl was approaching him.

Rick begged him to stop but it was useless. He put himself between the two, but Shane kept shouting.

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction."

Daryl pointed at him. "Shut your mouth!"

Rick's arms went out and tried to stop them, but didn't work. Carol and I reached for Daryl and pulled him back as Lori, Glenn, and Rick did the same for Shane. Shane still was shouting. "What are you doing? Don't come at me, man!"

Everyone was screaming 'calm down' or 'back off'. When Daryl was back near me, I looked him in the eyes and whispered, "It's alright. Don't listen to that asshole. I got your back." He nodded, accepting my help. I knew telling him to calm down would only make things worse.

Shane started stomping away as Rick called out. "Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out."

Shane lost it. "What are you gonna figure out?!" His scream made my body jump back and Daryl pushed me behind him.

"Enough!" Lori screamed back, placing herself between the Hulk and Rick.

Rick lowered his voice and spoke in a more soothing matter. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

Dale stepped in towards Rick. "Hershel sees those things in there as people - sick people - his wife, his stepson."

"You knew?" Rick was as shocked as everyone else. Dale knew this terrifying secret and didn't say a word about it.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?" Shane couldn't let it slide.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did." Dale's expression showed his dislike for Shane's attitude. Hell, it may have shown his whole dislike for Shane. He turned his attention back to Rick. "I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

Shane wasn't calming down. His face was bright red. "The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no."

Rick was about to snap back at Shane, but the sounds of the chains wrapped around the door stopped him. They stopped everyone. The walker's moans were louder and hungrier as they listened to our arguing. The noises that we were feeding them only made them want us more.

Everyone ran back. Lori held Carl. Carol ran to them. Dale, Rick, and Shane stood watching as the doors moved forward and back. Daryl pushed me back further away from the scene. I couldn't see over him, so I placed my hands on his shoulders and leaned to the right. The horror on everyone's face were replicated from the herd that passed us a few short days ago.

"Listen," Rick called to the group. "We should just head back to camp. I'll talk to Hershel, see what I can do. In the meantime, just go about your day. The barn looks secure enough that we don't have to worry too much about it."

"Rick, we can't pretend that this isn't happening only yards away-" Shane hands smashed against his hips.

"I'm not saying that. I'll handle this. There's nothing to worry about." Rick was determined to get the situation resolved. It was starting to get a little out of hand.

"Whatever, man. But I'm not just gonna stand around with my hands in my pockets, waiting for those things to break out."

"I know." Rick's eyes stayed on Shane for a few seconds before looking at the group. "Everyone, please just go back to camp. Everything is going to be fine."

The pack of people slowly started back towards camp, but not one pair of eyes averted from the barn. It was going to be an impossible task to go on with our day. The barn full of walkers would sit in our minds and nothing else.

Once back to camp, Daryl pulled me aside. "You should go in the tent. It will be safe in there."

"What about you?" I knew that the barn was secure, but I wasn't put at ease. I was terrified of the monsters inside. If they did break out, I would need Daryl. I was the worst shot and I didn't know how to protect myself, not yet anyway.

"There's somethin' I gotta do. Just go in the tent and zip it up. I'll be back soon." He didn't explain what he was going to do, but I assumed that it was personal and needed to be done. Otherwise, he would have told me the details.

I didn't ask him where he was going or why. He walked away and I did what he asked. I climbed into our tent and zipped it up. I sat on the bed and waited. Daryl would be back soon and when he did return, everything was going to be better.